LAmom

BY THE YEAR 2013

Fellow citizens, I want to take a little time to describe to you my vision of the things I will accomplish in four years if you select me to be your leader.

I cannot guarantee that I will achieve these things, but I will recite them anyway because you deserve a leader who understands the power of positive affirmations as a public policy strategy.  When I describe these goals, I will use present perfect tense verbs, so that you will feel as if they have already happened.

By the year 2013, America has become an idyllic place.  The traffic jams that plague our roads have been vanquished, although we still suffer the lingering effects of the occasional stalled car in the slow lane.  Earthquakes have been prevented, and we have daytime temperatures of 72 degrees year 'round.

I should probably reiterate that I cannot guarantee these results, but this is my vision.

Four years from now, there is no longer any place in the world that is a safe haven for talentless pop stars to plan their efforts to target our precious children.

Also, by 2013, our nation's single men have overcome their fear of commitment.  They have learned how to recognize a good thing when they see it, and they are proposing to acceptable women by the fifth date or sooner.  Russia and China are cooperating with us as well, resulting in the end of the worldwide man shortage.  Adultery has also been eliminated (while there may be flare-ups at times, they are spasmodic and much reduced).

As I said before, these things are not guaranteed.

If you believe in these goals, then you want me to lead this country.  Really, you do.

SOME PRO-LIFE LINKS

I should have done this one a while back: You are invited to sign a petition supporting the Pro Every Life, Pro Woman, Pro Reproductive Justice for All manifesto.  The manifesto was brought by Mary and Jen and supports both the sanctity of life of the unborn (and everybody else) AND the dignity of women and their right to self-determination when it comes to preventing pregnancy.

And this one is just in: Jen is proposing a Pro-Life, Pro-Contraception Blogswarm on May 31, 2008.  If you are anti-abortion and pro-contraception, blog about in on May 31st!  See you then!

THAT WAS US

If you were passing by the Galen Center at USC tonight you might be wondering who those crazy holy rollers were out on the upstairs patio.  That was us.  The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World California District Youth Convention.

Allow me to explain.  See, we had promised that we would vacate our ballroom at a certain time (10:00, I think), and we wanted to keep our word.  But even though our time was up, the service was definitely not over yet.  So even though we moved outside, we just continued right on dancing and shouting, clapping and playing tambourines, speaking in tongues and praying for each other.  I left just after 11:00 and there were still 40 or 50 people there at that point.

So if you've always wondered what those Pentecostal church services are like, now you know.

I hope everybody else's weekend has been as good as mine.

"BUSH'S THIRD TERM"

I don't usually approve of the kind of sweeping generalizations that politicians like to make, such as "McCain is running for Bush's third term."

But what else can I think when I see this?

Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said on Wednesday he would not rule out launching preemptive wars against future enemies.

Let the name-calling begin!

I heard a local radio DJ say yesterday that a large number of historians have named GWB as the worst president ever.  The DJ thought that it was premature to say things like that about a currently sitting president before history has had a chance to take its course.  But considering the precedents that Bush has set in terms of pre-emptive war and disrespecting the rule of law, I can understand the historians' point of view.

BLACK PEOPLE'S DIRTY LAUNDRY

I'm realizing that the thing that most has my stomach in knots about Rev. Jeremiah Wright is maybe less about the effect he might have on the campaigns and more about the fact that I, and probably all black people, know people like that.  People who can be just fine in some areas, but they also have that freaky black-paranoid-rage streak.  And from time to time they say this stuff that make you feel so queasy.  And you get used to putting up with it, but you really, really hope that they never say it in front of non-black people, because you know that other people will think that black people are totally nuts.  And now, here's our dirty laundry on the front pages of major newspapers.  It's been a rough week.

HILLARY CHANGES PARTNERS

At the beginning of the election season, there was a vibe coming from the Hillary Clinton campaign that she represented almost a "two-for-one" candidacy.  Vote for me, and you get Bill, too.

Now she's hinting at another package deal.  Don't worry about choosing between Barack and me.  Just vote for me, and you'll get us both (maybe).

Stand on your own, Senator!

HE'S ON A ROLL

Looks like there's a pattern here . . .

There was this:

McCain, Romney acrimony dates back to the Olympics

And now this:

A contentious relationship between Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, has been percolating on Capitol Hill for more than two years.

Mr. McCain seems to have a talent for getting on people's bad side (and then having to compete against them later for a job).

LEARNING STYLES

BT (age 5), looking at the remaining portion of my half-eaten quesadilla, said "It looks like a state that's bigger than Texas!"  "You mean Alaska?", I queried.  "Yeah!"

He was right.  Viewing it from a certain angle, it did somewhat resemble the shape of Alaska.

BT has been very visually oriented ever since he was a toddler (probably before that as well, but it's hard to know since he couldn't talk then).  He especially seems to show an affinity for geography.  He can identify major countries just by seeing a portion of them, and since the age of four, he has surprised people by seeing a globe or world map and being able to immediately point to Los Angeles and proclaim, "That's where we live!"

JG is just the opposite; he's the classic kinesthetic type, the one who can't sit still, the one who might be labeled with an attention-span problem if he were in school.  Loves working with his hands, makes really creative Lego constructions, but can't find things when they're right in front of him.

Which means that Mommy has to be prepared to work with each kid's individual learning style.  One of things I love about homeschooling is that each one can do things that are designed just for him.  And a lot of their learning progress can be assessed just by observing them instead of giving them tests.  BT definitely passed his geography test today.

GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM, NOT ENOUGH FOR US

My pretty-much-preferred candidate, Senator Obama, made a splendid showing on Super Tuesday!  Now that the big day is over, I can see even more clearly where my feelings lie about Obama himself and about the presidential race overall.

Watching Obama's journey has been inspiring to me as an African-American.  It's extremely gratifying to see a black man run such a good campaign and be so well received by the American people.  In terms of what I would wish for him personally, his success up through this week would be enough to make me happy.  And seeing the way he has inspired young people and new voters to get involved in the political process, I think he's done a great service to our country just by running.  If he were competing for the nomination against a Howard Dean or a Barbara Boxer, I would be ready to sit back and say, "Good for him!  Win or lose, he's done himself proud!"

But I can't sit back.  I'm still on the edge of my seat.  Because he's not running against Dean or Boxer; he's running against someone who helped to get us into this horrible war.  For the sake of our country and our reputation in the world, we have got to express a full repudiation of the Bush doctrine.  Obama is the only candidate left who can do that.  That's why I'm still so emotionally attached to this race, looking at the delegate counts and the polls, checking hourly to see if they've called the primary in New Mexico yet (right now, with 99% of the precincts reporting, Hillary is ahead by 1,123 votes).

We need for Obama to win because we need for the other candidates to NOT win.  Yes, my vote for him was partly an "anti-" vote; I'm not ashamed to say it.  He's done enough to be a credit to himself, but America needs for him to go all the way.  Keep it up, man.

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

. . . and for the first time I can remember, my vote counts, too.  Usually when I go to vote, I feel like I either know already who is going to win or at least I know which way California is going to go.  I vote anyway, but not thinking that my vote has much influence.

But this time, the California vote actually matters AND the California victory is possibly up for grabs.  So as I head across the street to Lynwood High School, I really feel important.

Tingle, tingle.  Here I go . . .

UPDATE: I'm glad I went early in the day.  My local poll workers didn't know how to handle a Non-Partisan who wanted to vote Democratic.  At first they sent me to the Independent voting booth where there were only independent candidates on the ballot.  I had to explain to them what they were supposed to do and then I was successfully able to vote.  So now anybody who comes in there after me will get good service.

DEFINING MOMENTS

I've come to expect politicians to act like politicians.  I know what they say about laws and sausages, and I accept the fact that at times there have to be compromises.  But sometimes a critical moment comes when we really need our representatives to rise above politics and do the right thing, even if it's not politically smart.

I remember how I felt when the Iraq War resolution was being considered.  I remember pacing the floor in our den while I listened to the radio.  I couldn't believe that Congress was seriously considering the president's proposal to start a war unilaterally against a country that had not attacked us nor threatened us.  How could we set such a dangerous and immoral precedent?  I figured that some of the legislators really did want to go to war, but I strongly suspected that there were others who knew it was wrong but were afraid of being painted as "soft on terrorism" by war hawks who were capitalizing on a zeitgeist of fear and the confusion some Americans had about who's who between bad guys overseas.  I saw it as a defining moment, one where you see what a leader is really made of.

I felt helpless thinking that the people who were supposed to represent me could cave in to political pressures at a time when we so desperately needed them to stand for what was right.  Before the vote, I told myself: Anyone who votes 'yes' on this has got to go.  What I meant by that was that they needed to get the boot from Congress; it hadn't occurred to me that some of those people would later be running for the presidency.  My vote for our commander-in-chief will not go to anyone who either sincerely believes in pre-emptive war or was spineless enough to go along with one.  That's why I didn't vote for John Kerry, would not have voted for John Edwards, and will not vote for Hillary Clinton.  It's also the reason why I was glad to be able to vote to re-elect Barbara Boxer to the Senate in 2004.  Despite the fact that we disagree strongly on some things, such as abortion, she had the courage to stand by her convictions and vote against the war.

I've had this blogpost halfway composed in my head for over a week, but I hadn't made the time to sit down and finish it.  Then yesterday I happened to see something at the library that finally got me back to it.  I was glancing at the section of biographies for kids when I saw a name that always stops me in my tracks -- Jeannette Rankin.  Even though she knew that her votes against war would doom her political career, she would not go against her principles.  After her vote against entering World War I she said, "I'm not interested in that ["that" being the question of how her vote would affect her chances at re-election].  All I am interested in is what they will say fifty years from now."  Those votes were her defining moments, and she rose to them.

It's wonderful that she broke the gender barrier in Congress, but that's not the thing that makes her so special to me.  Her willingness to stand alone was what had me suddenly shedding tears right there in the middle of the San Pedro library.  We need more leaders like that.

PPJ WEB RING IS BACK UP

I don't know how, I don't know why, but at some point the Pro-Lifers for Peace and Justice web ring had been closed out by webring.com.  It was somehow merged into another pro-life ring that was (gasp!) inclusive to everyone, not just liberals.

But I have rectified the situation!  The PPJ ring is back.  If you were previously a member of the ring, or if you are a pro-life liberal and wish to join, this is your invitation.  I think all you have to do is click over to this page to get started.  Your site doesn't have to be a blog; it doesn't even have to talk about pro-life issues or politics or anything.  If you yourself are a pro-life liberal, we would love for you to join.  Thanks.

WHY I'M GLAD TO BE BACK HOME: PART III

I have a gas stove again.  Very glad.

WHO I WANT TO WIN (EVEN THOUGH I PROBABLY WON'T VOTE FOR HIM)

When it comes to choosing the next president, the issue that looms largest in my mind is war in general, Iraq in particular.  Out of all the political issues that our country faces, war policy is the one where the president has the greatest individual influence, so a candidate's position on war is usually the thing I look at first.

I don't know if any of the candidates would carry out the policy that I think is needed in Iraq, but I think there is only one major candidate who could do it.  (You know what I mean by major candidates, right?  The ones we expect to get at least a bronze medal in the primaries.)

Before there is talk about how long our troops should stay or when they should leave, we must first confront the fact that it was WRONG for us to have invaded Iraq in the first place.  I don't really want a president who would withdraw from Iraq just because things are going badly there or because the war was poorly managed.  That would leave the door open for other preemptive wars, provided that we carry them out better.  No way.  We first have to acknowledge that preemptive war is evil, that we have wronged the Iraqi people, and that we want to make right what we have done wrong.  In Christian lingo (not everyone is Christian, but I am and so is Mr. Bush), this is called repentance.  Once we have faced that truth, then we can work with the Iraqis and the international community to make a plan for what kind of presence we should have there and for how long.

The only major candidate who can legitimately take this position is Senator Barack Obama.  The main Republican candidates support the war.  And the other leading Democrats, while they are critical of Bush now, voted in favor of the war resolution at the beginning, which means that they at least support the idea of preemptive war as viable option.

So I'm hoping for a win by Obama.  I'm not planning to vote for him myself, though.  I live in California, a state that is usually expected to go Democrat, so I feel very comfortable voting for fringe candidates.  I expect to cast my vote for Joe Schriner, a pro-life liberal who is running as an independent.  The only thing that could change that would be if Obama were the Democratic nominee and there were questions about which way California was going to go.

UPDATE (February 2): Shame on me for not knowing this sooner!  I just found out early last week that California is not a completely closed primary!  Independents can vote in the Democratic primary.  So I'm going to vote for Obama in the primary and then most likely vote for Schriner in the general election.

IN MY NAME, WITH MY MONEY

Death and Taxes is a representational graph of the federal budget.  Here are the big numbers:
    Military & National Security Spending -- 67%
    Everything else -- 33%

Go take a more in-depth look.

(HT: Get Rich Slowly)

WHY I'M GLAD TO BE BACK HOME: PART II

Right now I'm sitting at the computer with my kids less than 10 feet away from me.  The only available place for me to put my office was in a little cubby adjoining their room.

This is one of the things I really like about being back in a smaller house.  It's easy for us to be close to each other and stay involved with each other.  The other house was huge.  There was a much greater distance between everyone's rooms.  One of the things BT disliked the most about that place was that sometimes he would call for me and I couldn't even hear him.  For a little 4-then-5-year-old, it can be distressing to call repeatedly for your parents and get no response.  And the prospect of walking from his room all the way to the kitchen was so intimidating that he would ask someone to go with him so he wouldn't be scared.  In this house, he can be heard by anyone from anywhere and he feels comfortable exploring his own home.

Also, my parental responsibility to know what my kids are watching on TV has gotten much easier; their shows are inescapable now!  (Miss Spider is on at the moment.)  Sometimes things get loud, but this is what we're used to and we like it.

WHY I'M GLAD TO BE BACK HOME: PART I

After a year and a half of living in the enormous house in Carson, we are back at our old house in Lynwood.  It really feels good.  One of the things I missed the most at the other place was having a backyard.  Previous owners had converted every inch of the backyard space into additional rooms (except for the little patch where the electric meter was, and that was covered with concrete).

When we arrived back at the Lynwood house (or, as I call it, "home"), JG (he's 8 now) and BT (he's 5) returned to their previous habits of going into the yard to observe bugs.  And we have a great spot back there where we get good sun and very little breeze.  Perfect for warming yourself on a winter morning.

And right now there are huge amounts of mallows growing in the yard!  There's some sow thistle as well, and on the side of the house there is wood sorrel and some of the best chickweed we've ever gotten.  At this very moment I'm eating one of those fantastic free organic salads that I've been missing for so long.

More tomorrow about why I'm glad to be back here.

TALK TO THE PRESIDENT!

I don't know if anybody out there is still reading here, but if so, perhaps you will join me in this effort.

Last week, President Bush wrote a letter to the Congress telling them that he will veto any legislation that includes federal funding for abortions. In the letter he talks about how wrong it is to "allow taxpayer dollars to be used for the destruction of human life." As a pro-life liberal, it was impossible for me to read that part without thinking about the Iraq War, where our tax money is killing a lot of people.

If you feel the same way I do, join me in contacting the president to express your views. You can call 202-456-1111 or email to comments@whitehouse.gov

IF YOU ARE PRO-LIFE, PLEASE MENTION IT IN YOUR COMMENT!

Here's an article at LifeNews.com that includes the text of Bush's letter.

If you do send him a message, feel free to leave a comment here and tell me that you did.

I'm still way too busy to do quality blogging, so I'm not promising that I'll write anything else soon, but I am going to call the White House.

KID PHOTO

JG and BT at the library drinking fountains.  I just thought it was a cute pose.

IS THAT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION?

So I saw this sign in the window of my local 7-11 yesterday.  (click on photo to enlarge)

Note the part at the bottom: "Ask your clerk for details."  Now if 7-11 is only requiring their clerks to provide information about voter registration, I suppose that would be pretty neutral (unless the clerk was an anarchist maybe and didn't believe in voting?).  But this sign seems to imply that the clerks will give out information urging someone to vote a particular way on a particular piece of legislation.

I haven't actually read anything yet about the specific proposition or what the tobacco tax is purporting to do, so I'm not giving an opinion on that.  I'm just mouthing off about the idea of making one's employees participate in political campaigning.  What would happen if one of those clerks said to a customer, "Here's what you need to register to vote, but this doesn't mean I'm telling you which way to vote on the proposition, because I'm in favor of it myself."  Hmmmm . . .